After about a year and a half of planning, the final draft of the California Cyber Task Force Strategy was officially revealed Monday at a joint Cyber Center of Excellence and National Defense Industrial Association event in San Diego.

Last year, U.S. companies lost an estimated $100 billion through cyberattacks — and the attacks will likely increase as society moves toward the so-called Internet of Things, cybersecurity specialists warned San Diego's Corporate Director's Forum on Wednesday.

Howard Schmidt, the former White House cybersecurity coordinator for President Barack Obama, has joined the board of directors for CyberUnited, a San Diego-based insider threat security informatics company.

STANFORD -- Governments and businesses spend $1 trillion a year for global cybersecurity, but unlike wartime casualties or oil spills, there's no clear idea what the total losses are because few will admit they've been compromised. Cybersecurity leaders from more than 40 countries are gathering at Stanford University this week to consider tackling that information gap by creating a single, trusted entity that would keep track of how much hackers steal.

San Diego-based GridCOM Technologies, which develops cybersecurity solutions for energy infrastructures, has been awarded a grant from the state of California to help protect electrical grids from cyberattacks.

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc. was among 17 winners of a $6 billion U.S. contract that will create a shopping hub for government agencies seeking to shield their computer networks from hackers.

NEW YORK (AP) -- The heads of the nation's three top intelligence agencies said Thursday they strive to protect Americans' privacy in an evolving era of cybersecurity threats, electronic surveillance and concerns about government data-monitoring.

SINGAPORE (AP) -- After years of quiet and largely unsuccessful diplomacy, the U.S. has brought its persistent computer-hacking problems with China into the open, delivering a steady drumbeat of reports accusing Beijing's government and military of computer-based attacks against America.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will be looking for signs from China's leader at their upcoming meeting that Beijing is ready to address its reported high-tech spying, which the White House sees as a top threat to the U.S. economy and national security.

Jason Clark, chief security and strategy officer for San Diego-based Websense Inc. (Nasdaq: WBSN), has been named a 2012 Top Security Executive by ExecRank, ranking eighth out of 150 security executives honored.

In a deal valued at close to $1 billion, San Diego's Websense Inc. (Nasdaq: WBSN), a leader in warding off cyber attacks and data theft, has agreed to be sold to Vista Equity Partners, a private equity firm that invests in software, data and other tech businesses.

FBI Supervisory Special Agent John Caruthers, the head of the San Diego field office's National Security Cyber Program, will be one of more than 20 speakers at a security conference called “Suits and Spooks”on June 15 and 16 at the Marriott La Jolla hotel.

BEIJING (AP) -- Signs are growing that the sustained surge in cyberattacks emanating from China is imperiling its relations with the U.S., lending urgency to fledgling efforts by both governments to engage on the issue.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The House Intelligence Committee is finalizing legislation that would give the federal government an unprecedented role in helping banks, manufacturers and other businesses protect against cyberattacks.

BEIJING (AP) -- Hacking that originates inside China is undermining its relationship with the United States and harms Beijing's long-term interests, a U.S. diplomat said Tuesday, in the latest high-level public expression of concern over a problem that has prompted threats of commercial retaliation from Washington.

The House Intelligence Committee will add privacy safeguards to a cybersecurity proposal in an effort to win support of President Barack Obama and other lawmakers, the panel’s top Republican and Democrat said.

March 19 (Bloomberg) -- A U.S. advisory panel failed to reach consensus on recommendations to telecommunications companies and Internet providers on how to bolster their computer systems against cyber attack.

WASHINGTON -- When Kevin Mandia, a retired military cybercrime investigator, decided to expose China as a primary threat to U.S. computer networks, he didn't have to consult with American diplomats in Beijing or declassify tactics to safely reveal government secrets.

BEIJING (AP) -- Cyberattacks that stole massive amounts of information from military contractors, energy companies and other key industries in the U.S. and elsewhere have been traced to the doorstep of a Chinese military unit, a U.S. security firm alleged Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Declaring that America is losing an aggressive cyber-espionage campaign waged from China, administration officials and lawmakers on Wednesday agreed to push legislation that would make it easier for the government and industry to share information about who is getting hacked and what to do about it.

Cyber attacks have increased by nearly 600 percent over the past year, according to a report released Wednesday by Websense Security Labs, a research team of San Diego’s Websense Inc. (Nasdaq: WBSN), which produces security software for email and mobile communications.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House cybersecurity executive order, to be unveiled Wednesday by President Barack Obama's top security officials, will be the most comprehensive plan yet for confronting electronic attacks on America's computer networks, or at least a good-faith effort amid an alarming tide in industrial espionage in the past year that experts blame mostly on China.

Allowing access to Facebook and Twitter in the workplace risks brand damage, cyberharassment, productivity loss and security threats, but EdgeWave Inc. lets companies tap into the power of social media while mitigating those risks.

The concept of the technological “cloud,” a term that is at once confusing and ubiquitous, has been around for years, but industry experts say the extent of its reach has only just begun to be tapped. What used to be done with software and the nearly extinct floppy disk now happens in a virtual space from the consumer’s perspective, and a changing one from the business side.

Today's work force is comprised of people from at least three generations who have witnessed the rapid evolution of technology parallel to the evolution of flight. Just as the Wright brothers were laughed out of the hangar from which the airplane was born, our collective experience of the changes in the information technology field and what they mean to us has run the trajectory from skepticism to acceptance to absolute reliance. In 2012, the rise of cyber attacks took us from absolute reliance on our technical domains back to skepticism on how much risk we can afford to take.

Paradise Point Resort & Spa’s name was a misnomer this week, as the HALO Counter-Terrorism Summit filled the island with the latest military and defense technology and cybersecurity tools for its fifth annual conference, and what is expected to be the first of many at this San Diego location.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -- Millions of Social Security numbers and business records from tax returns as far back as 1998 were hacked in South Carolina and experts said Wednesday it may be the largest cyber-attack against a state tax department in the nation's history.

There's more to cybersecurity than virus protection and anti-spyware. From securing mobile devices to guarding against hacking, here are some common vulnerabilities small businesses need to watch out for.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the Pentagon and American intelligence agencies are seeing an increase in cyber threats that could become as devastating as the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks if they aren’t stopped.

Securing Our eCity, the ESET Foundation’s signature program, has announced plans to launch a cybersecurity cluster effort in San Diego, in partnership with the San Diego Advanced Defense Technology cluster.

The overhaul of the U.S. electricity network with technologies to improve efficiency gives hackers new targets for cyber attacks, the head of the University of Southern California Energy Institute said.

Cyber attacks on the biggest U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co., have breached some of the nation’s most advanced computer defenses and exposed the vulnerability of its infrastructure, said cybersecurity specialists tracking the assaults.

Roundtables

Imagine flipping open the latest edition of a magazine and instead of seeing a list of the most walkable or dog-friendly cities, finding the most cyber-friendly cities, and then placing importance in the results.

Biotech, mobile, tourism, craft beer — San Diego is at the forefront of these industries and its business community is defined by them, but who says there isn’t room for one more? Thanks to a wide-reaching public-private partnership, the Cyber Center of Excellence opened March 20 with the goal of adding cybersecurity to the list of homegrown success stories.

Individual plants will one day have their own microprocessor to transmit a signal, saying they need water and fertilizer. A group of forward-thinking technology leaders discussed what the future looks like in the wireless sector at a recent roundtable at The Daily Transcript sponsored by CohnReznick.